Hazi Aslanov
Major General of tank troops, twice Hero of the Soviet Union — a son of Lankaran who fought all the way from Stalingrad to the Baltic.
The commander his whole brigade knew
Hazi Ahad oghlu Aslanov (1910–1945) was a Soviet tank officer, a Major General of tank troops and twice Hero of the Soviet Union. He was born in Lankaran, in the south of Azerbaijan, into a worker's family, and rose from cavalryman to commander of a Guards tank brigade.
His name stands among the finest tank commanders of the Second World War. He fought at Stalingrad, forced the Berezina, struck the enemy in the Baltic — and fell in battle in January 1945, only months short of victory. His second Hero title was awarded only in 1991.
A life in numbers
A tankman does not retreat — he drives on while the heart of the machine still beats.
A name the city bears
In Baku a metro station opened in 2002 bears Hazi Aslanov's name, and monuments to him stand in the city and in his native Lankaran. He is remembered too in Volgograd, on the soil of former Stalingrad, and in Latvia, where he fell.
On the hero's memoryDates are given from open sources; some documents record his birth and death days differently (differences of calendars and sources).